VIDEO PREMIERE & WEB-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Musician:  DANA COOPER

Video Premiere:  “THE GHOST OF TUCUMCARI”

 

DANA COOPER—AMERICANA’S COOL HAND LUKE RESURRECTS THE GHOST OF TUCUMCARI

by Rodeo Marie Hanson

Tucumcari is believed to have come from the Comanche word tukamukaru, which means to lie in wait for someone or something. Dana Cooper’s visual imagery of “The Ghost of Tucumcari” takes the listener back to the old ways of the Native Americans and the trail of tears that has been left in the shadows of a time that has unfortunately been long forgotten. Yet, the title track is an invitation to the rest of the album that serves to show us how his eyes were opened to his current realization.

Cooper is the ultimate non-conformist, the music world’s version of a living, breathing, touring Cool Hand Luke, who much like the titular character played by Paul Newman refuses to yield to external forces or genuflect to authority—choosing instead to make his own dogma along the way. To date, Cooper, the recipient of multiple artistic acknowledgments, including the Nashville Music Award Nomination Best Pop Album, has released 32 studio efforts. The Ghost of Tucumcari, Cooper’s most recent offering, is a collection of musical metaphors and snapshots of his influences during 50 years spent in the music business— featuring a supporting cast of artists, including Lyle Lovett, Hayes Carll, Susan Gibson, Mando Saenz, Darden Smith, Shake Russell, David Starr, Gillian Tuite and Libby Koch.

Cooper’s physical incarnation is somewhat deceptive—his gentle exterior belies the peaks and valleys he has experienced in the music industry. Salt and pepper hair make a cameo-like appearance beneath a straw hat accentuated by a brown band providing the perfect canvas, as he flashes a genuine smile revealing pearly whites. Crisp white button-down shirt, dark denim jeans and well-worn mud-stained cowboy boots cling to his slender frame—accouterments reflective of his troubadour lifestyle, far from the silver screen exploits of any rhinestone cowboy. Countless sun-faded stickers of the places he’s performed adorn Cooper’s guitar case—a colorful collage representative of his career and many roads traveled.

The self-confessed former introvert’s persistent path to success is a story rich with redemption, starring all the usual suspects—playing coffee houses, moving to Los Angeles in search of a big break, and sleeping on a friend’s sofa—culminating with a record deal with Elektra, and being booked by a then unknown Lyle Lovett at A&M University in College Station, Texas.

A battle-scarred stray cat served as Cooper’s muse for this song. The lyrics speak to the plight of lost souls, animal and human, without a safe place to go or anyone to care for them. The song also speaks to an American dream once thriving, but now in ruins. Lyle Lovett’s vocals whispered hauntingly, make the piece believable.

After being in the music business for 50 years, Cooper explores the source of his perseverance and how he continues to remain passionate about creating music, “Well, perseverance—I look back at it all, and it just seems like it went by. I mean, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been doing this for 50 years. When I start thinking about it, I realize it has—but I feel pretty much the same way now that I did when I started out. I have a few more aches and pains, but I’ve held up pretty well—physically and mentally. I’ve been up and down so many times and the perseverance part of it—I don’t quite know where that comes from, honestly. I look back and wonder how I came out of some of the stages in life that I did. But, of course along the way, I’ve had a lot of support from friends, loved ones and family—people who believed in what I did. And there may not have been a whole bunch of them sometimes, but there’s always a support system there of some kind—that I could turn to—which helps immensely.”

“Always Old Friends” – Friendship & Creative Ally Lyle Lovett

Being signed and dropped by Elektra Records in the early 1970s did not deter Cooper from chasing his dreams and ascending the creative ladder for success. Later that decade, Cooper found a friend in a then unknown Lyle Lovett, meeting the future country star while Lovett was a college student at A&M in College Station, Texas booking the entertainment at the campus’ coffee house. Lovett was a young musician himself booking acts and opening for them. He booked The Shake Russell—Dana Cooper Band, who were very popular around that part of the world. Lovett booked them for two nights, but subsequently was fired from that job because he paid the band so much money. Going over budget cost Lovett his gig but he was allowed to continue opening for shows there.

When Cooper first moved to Nashville, he ran into Lovett on the street—he was leaving town. Like Cooper, Lovett had been turned down by every label there. Lovett gave Cooper a cassette of his album Pontiac (Lovett’s 2nd studio album released in 1987), which Cooper still has, and shortly after that, Lovett got placed on the map with a deal from Curb Records. Cooper has opened some concerts for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, “He’s always been super gracious to me. He would actually come out on stage and introduce me as the opening act and then he would come out and sing a song with me. So it’s a long-running friendship. He sang with me on my Miracle Mile album (1997), adding harmony to ‘Too Deep a Sorrow,’ and I just could hear him singing on a couple of songs on this record (The Ghost of Tucumcari).”

Singer-songwriter Hayes Carll also makes an appearance on The Ghost of Tucumcari. Cooper establishes the connection to other musicians featured on his newest album, “I think opening for Shake and me was his first big gig. A concert when he was a very young guy starting out and we just thought he was super talented, a sweet person, very down to earth, and approachable. Susan Gibson, same thing. Susan and I were fast friends the first time we met. All these folks on this record: Darden Smith, Libby Koch, they’re all people I’ve admired and liked—who have always been very supportive of what I do.”

It is only fitting that Dana Cooper’s most recent offering, his 32nd studio album to date, be titled The Ghost of Tucumcari—named after a city in New Mexico with a humble origin story, which has enjoyed moments of glory. The town of Tucumcari, much like Dana Cooper, is resilient, holds many secrets, and is a thing of beauty that must be experienced on its own terms.

“I’m Just Passing Through Here” – Shyness Crumbles Under Perseverance

A shy demeanor may not necessarily be conducive to an on-stage persona. Cooper struggled with shyness when he started out as a performer. Offering a glimpse into his psyche and how he conquered it, “I was so shy when I started out. I couldn’t get up and get off the bus, if there was anyone who could see me standing there, sitting behind me. So I’d wait until everyone was gone behind where I was going to get up on the bus—so no one would be looking at me. I’d be on my way to get up on the stage, and I sort of had this realization one day sitting on the bus. I guess it had been happening for a while but I just told myself, you have to get over this. You have to stand up and get off the bus, while people are looking at you—as excruciating as it is. And you’re on your way to get on the stage, where people are going to be staring at you. That little self-conversation there—I’ve had that many times over the years because my basic nature starting out certainly was very introverted and shy. I’ve gotten to a point where I’m not that way. I can be driven to that spot pretty easily. I get in front of an audience that’s not accepting me or something, which doesn’t happen often. But if it does, I can start to get pretty uncomfortable. But now I have the tools to know how to at least forge through it and act like it isn’t bothering me. I’ve known a lot of friends along the way who’ve given up on music and I totally understand it. I’ve been down and out in places where I just thought, ‘Oh God, I don’t have any career now. What am I going to do? I’ve got to find a job. I’ve got to find a way to start over.’ And I just always did.”

“I Can Face the Truth” – Objectivity As A Co-Producer

Speaking of the challenges of artists who self-produce, Cooper offers his insight on how he maintains objectivity when working with a co-producer, “I’ve done so many records and been doing it so long, I know who to work with and who I can trust. Their objectivity and their creative input, it’s really important. I work with other musicians that I find exciting and creative, and I allow them to bring their thing to it. I can always intervene and say, well that doesn’t work—I hear it more this way. But I try not to guide people too much, and I love co-producing with people. I like to be flexible and open to changes. So there’s always something on a recording or a song or two, where my co-producer might suggest a different approach to things that I really like pursuing—and it’s fun to do that. Dave Coleman and I worked together on I Can Face the Truth CD (2022), and I really enjoyed working with him. He’s one of the few people I’ve worked with as a producer who’s really open to letting me try some different things.”

The Woody Guthrie classic features Cooper’s friends on vocals—a beautiful example of how people can come together. It’s a message not only for America but the world—during such turbulent and uncertain times. This track is pure Americana.

“My America” – Cooper Continues The Legacy Of Woody Guthrie

“This Land is Your Land” written by Woody Guthrie is probably the most popular folk song ever written, but despite the general consensus it’s far from a happy song celebrating America. It was written in response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” as a more cynical and critical response to social and financial inequity. Embracing the subversive nature of “This Land is Your Land,” Cooper shares an unflinching assessment of what is currently going on in America, “I’m daunted by it. I am very concerned about it. That’s what drove me to record that song. When I started out and discovered folk music in the late 50s, early 60s, Woody Guthrie came up on my radar. “This Land is your Land” really resonated with me. I’d always heard abbreviated versions of it and just thought it was such a profound song, It seems so pertinent to our time because it breaks everything down into this commonality, and the different corners that we’re driven to. So I think it as part of my job to try to bring people together in some small way, and that’s why I wanted to do this song. A couple of my friends said, ‘Oh, that’s like a patriotic song.’ And I said, ‘Well, maybe in a true sense of the word. I don’t look at it that way.’ It just breaks it all down into such simple terms. This country belongs to all of us. I love that verse, ‘on one side, the sign said no trespassing; and on the other, it didn’t say nothing—and that side was made for you and me.’ Everyone who sings on this song doesn’t share all the same political views that I do, and yet that song speaks to all of them, too. So, that was a great indicator to me that it was a good thing to do.”

“I Am” – Americana’s Definition & Its Enduring Appeal

Associated with Americana, Cooper takes on the task of trying to define the elusive genre that defies definition and why it appeals to him, “It’s really a diverse genre. I was quite impressed by that at a couple of Americana Festivals I went to in Nashville—how so much is included—R&B, blues, gospel, country and folk. I like the fact that it’s a catch-all for a lot of outsider music. It’s stuff more on the periphery, not really mainstream. That’s how I view it. People ask me what I do and I say, well it’s called Americana. I’ve always tried to be diverse in what I do. I like a lot of different kinds of things—I like to rock, I like more pop stuff, blues and country. I try to incorporate all of that in what I write, and I think Americana is a genre that will accept that.”

Dana Cooper’s visual imagery of “The Ghost of Tucumcari” takes the listener back to the old ways of the Native Americans and the trail of tears that has been left in the shadows of a time that has unfortunately been long forgotten.

“Standing in My Own Way” – A Romance With The Music Business

Well acquainted with both the bliss and heartache that accompany a romance of pursuing a career in the music business, Cooper highlights his thoughts on music education and advises the next generation on how to pursue their music dreams, “I think that if you’re going to be an artist, you have to find a way to factor all that technical knowledge into the creative part of it, which is still a great mystery to me. I’ve known a lot of well-trained and accomplished musicians who weren’t necessarily terribly creative—I don’t think you have to go to music school to learn how to play music, and I don’t know where one goes to learn how to be creative. I recently did a live recording, Live from Caffe Lena. They have a school of music there, and my agreement with them was a portion of the sales will go back to their music school—because I do want to nurture anyone who has that curiosity and wants to find a way to pursue the arts in any way. I think it’s important to support that.

The environment now with music or the music business has changed so much from when I started out. I’ve had to adapt along the way. For someone starting out now, I would recommend to educate themselves to all the different avenues of self-promotion—all the business aspects of publishing, of how to place your music, how to license music—all those things are important. But I would also recommend that if they want to be a performer—to get out and find every opportunity you can to play music in front of people, and to let that be your guide as to how what you’re doing resonates with people. If you’re just going to publishers or record companies, those people are going to give you completely different feedback than a real live audience will, and that’s always been my gauge. I would definitely try to play in front of a live audience as much as possible, to develop your show as a performer, and see how the music you’re creating resonates with people and how to refine that, perfect that.

I’d also suggest that people not take the business part of it too seriously—it’s really finding out why you want to do it. Why do you want to play music? Why do you want to write songs? What’s your objective? Is it to be a big hit songwriter of a certain genre? Then you need to learn everything you can about that genre and pursue that. That’s never been my driving force—or it’s rarely been my driving force. So I’ve always wanted to write songs that reach people and touch people. Seems like a simple goal but I definitely would also recommend finding someone objective, someone whose opinion you trust, who will pay attention to what you’re doing and give you objective feedback.”

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ALBUM REVIEW – The Ghost of Tucumcari

It is only fitting that Dana Cooper’s most recent offering, his 32nd studio album to date, be titled The Ghost of Tucumcari—named after a city in New Mexico with a humble origin story, which has enjoyed moments of glory. The town of Tucumcari, much like Dana Cooper, is resilient, holds many secrets, and is a thing of beauty that must be experienced on its own terms.

“Start the World Again” – Inspired by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, this track captures the isolation associated with the lockdown and the basic human need for physical touch and emotional interaction. Libby Koch’s angelic voice gently insists that society return to where it was before COVID became a household term. The musical accompaniment makes the listener wonder—was the lockdown all a dream, an alternate universe, and how did humanity manage to rise above it?

“The Ghost of Tucumcari” – A battle-scarred stray cat served as Cooper’s muse for this song. The lyrics speak to the plight of lost souls, animal and human, without a safe place to go or anyone to care for them. The song also speaks to an American dream once thriving, but now in ruins. Lyle Lovett’s vocals whispered hauntingly, make the piece believable.

“Children of a Common Mother” – The inception of this song goes back to 1976, and is upbeat, poppy and has “single” stamped all over it. Cooper deconstructs the things that divide us—like politics and religion, replacing them with infectious guitar chords and a message for positive social change. Libby Koch and Shake Russell help out with harmony vocals.

“What is Love Waiting For” – Posing a philosophical question, Cooper asks, if love can conquer hate, what is love waiting for? Cooper chose a simple melody, possibly to accentuate the significance of such a heavy question—going the way of simplicity leaves nowhere to hide from such a poignant conversation.

“Song for Myself” – Co-written with Cooper’s longtime songwriter friend Tom Prasada-Rao, this song is a conversation with one’s self. It addresses the search for happiness and fulfillment in the face of an uncertain future. Irish singer-songwriter, Gillian Tuite adds a poignant harmony.

“Falling Star” – Written in 1974, Cooper’s songwriting shines on this composition—he paints characters with the expertise of an auteur. This song could have made an appearance on the Eagles’ On the Border.

“Goin’ Down Judah” – Could serve as a companion piece to Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks.” Cooper references spirituality including the father, the son and the holy ghost. A pure, uncompromising slice of the blues.

“Rocked in a Country Cradle” – Cooper’s autobiography, written with Josh Leo, traces his musical influences, juxtaposed with those of his parents. Cooper invokes Bill Haley and The Beatles, while his parents were more country music inclined. Interestingly enough, the song has crossover appeal and some elements of rockabilly.

“Beauty and Ruin” – This could be about a relationship where physical attraction leads to demise or the inevitable effects of time on human beings. The empty spaces make the listener swim in the lyrics in order to decipher them.

“This Land is Your Land” – The Woody Guthrie classic features Cooper’s friends on vocals: Lyle Lovett, Hayes Carll, Susan Gibson, Mando Saenz, Darden Smith, Shake Russell and Libby Koch. A beautiful example of how people can come together. It’s a message not only for America but the world—during such turbulent and uncertain times. This track is pure Americana.

“Needless to Say” – Written in the 1970s and featuring a guest vocal by Lyle Lovett, lyrics of this song could have been printed on the pages of any great American novel. Thematic elements include a romantic relationship and yearning to have one’s innocence restored—punctuated by delicious wordplay.

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